The RC2 release of Mandriva Linux 2009 Spring (code name Estephe) is now available. This RC2 version provides some updates on major desktop components of the distribution, including KDE 4.2.2, GNOME 2.26, X.org server 1.6, and kernel 2.6.29. This RC2 version proposes also nearly all of the 2009 Spring design. This version will allow you also to dump in a very easy way All available One hybrid isos on a USB key and then install Mandriva Linux on netbooks.

There is a Plasma based network-manager which is in development; hopefully it will be ready to be shipped with KDE 4.3 or maybe KDE 4.4. It would be good though if KDE made the shift from KHTML to webkit and take advantage of the huge amount of work Google and Apple have contributed to the project.

Know that Chrome is coming to Linux but I'd sooner see a native KDE browser using the webkit core so that there is the benefit of having the latest and greatest webkit improvements whilst at the same time having a browser that fits into the rest of the system and takes advantage of the shared KDE services like spell checking etc.

I have in fact already used it, either on Arch KDEmod or perhaps I saw it on Kubuntu 9.04 beta. I therefore believe it is already in KDE 4.2.2. Hence, AFAIK it should be available in this version of Mandriva.